Summary"This bill amends the aquaculture leasing and licensing laws. * It removes the prohibition on the provision by the Department of Marine Resources of promotional and marketing assistance to the aquaculture industry. * It extends the potential term of an aquaculture lease from 10 to 20 years. It changes the order of preference for lease applications to include in the 2nd position an individual who currently holds a limited-purpose aquaculture license for the area. It provides a process by which a holder of a standard lease could seek an expansion of the lease area by up to 10% once during the duration of the lease without having to apply for a new lease. It places the licensed activities and criteria for limited-purpose aquaculture licenses in separate statutory provisions. It requires a limited-purpose aquaculture license holder to specify if the license is for commercial or personal use and to identify the growing area and current classification of the area. It adds consideration of any risk to public health to the criteria used in determining whether to grant a limited-purpose aquaculture license. It adds to the eligibility criteria for a limited-purpose aquaculture license the completion of any educational courses that may be required by the Commissioner of Marine Resources.END

Important Changes to Mainers' political and civic rights happened at the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee of the legislature on May 10, 2017. Listen to the recorded discussions then the committee votes in approval of bills LD 1591 and LD 1571.

Official summary of the changes the bill brings to state and local records management"This bill makes the following changes to the archives and records management laws:

1. Adds language to specify that it is the policy of the State to ensure that nonpermanent records are preserved for the time required by an approved records retention schedule;

2. Adds language to include the advice from the Archives Advisory Board in the State Archivist's consideration of what constitutes an archival record, to change the definition of state agency or agency to include all government agencies that transmit records to the Maine State Archives and to change the definition of electronic records;

3. Adds language to specify the 2nd organizational unit within the Maine State Archives is records management and adds language to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 94 that was stricken from Title 5, section 95 regarding powers and duties of the State Archivist;

4. Changes the laws governing the State Archivist to reflect the 2 organizational units of the Maine State Archives: archives services and records management. It adds language to strengthen the records management practices for all state and local government agencies by using 4 criteria in the development of a guiding records retention schedule: administrative use, legal requirements, fiscal and audit requirements and historical and research value;

5. Specifies when local government records may be destroyed;

6. Repeals and replaces the laws governing the Archives Advisory Board to change the expertise required of members, to provide that members are appointed by the Secretary of State and to provide 3-year terms for members; and

7. Removes the requirement that the Maine Historical Records Advisory Board report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs but retains the requirement that the board report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over state and local government matters, which is the committee of oversight for the Maine State Archives. It also removes a reference to funding a full-time position that was eliminated in Public Law 2015,

The bill would both kill all existing town pesticide related ordinances in Maine, and forbid creation of new ones. The state offered an amendment that would still kill the ordinances but would allow towns to apply to the Board of Pesticides Control for approval of new plans. Many in the committee remain opposed to the bill, especially as an infringment on municipal Home Rule which allows towns to pass ordinances that are strong than certain state laws.The committee voted to hold another worksession Wednesday before voting on the controversial bill. Three Penobscot Bay towns have pesticide ordinancesRockland,Owls Head and Castine Twenty six other Maine towns also have such ordinances.

May 6, 2017

Supporters of the MAV floating wind turbines plan have yet to take seriously (let alone discuss) the predicted effects of the project on the hydrodynamics of the Gulf of Maine off Penobscot Bay. Yet the scientific consensus is that the wind shadow of reduced wind velocity (-25%) immediately downwind of an ocean windbturbine continues well into the water column below. The reduced velocity of those waters, compared to the water outside the windfarm's shadow, results in creation of an upwelling of waters from the lower water column to the surface.As Norwegian expert Goran Brostrom, who's familiar with Maine's offshore wind plans, puts it, a wind decrease of 25% corresponds to a 50% decrease in wind stress at the surface.
By the time 20 years have blown past, the two floating turbines chugging away will have earned hundreds of million dollars or more selling electricity. This money will then be used to set up more of them further offshore
Focusing on whether the project saves carbon providing provide electricity for Monheganians